apartment buildings on 21st street
Apartment buildings on 21st Street. Photo by Joe Rivano Barros.

A one-alarm fire broke out in a 21st Street apartment building on Friday afternoon, but was extinguished by firefighters within 10 minutes with no injuries reported.

The fire started in the second-story unit at 2826 21st St. between Alabama and Florida streets just after 12 p.m., according to Assistant Chief Bill Storti, who was at the scene. Storti said a fire began in the closer of a bedroom facing the street and was quickly extinguished.

It was unclear whether anyone would be displaced from that bedroom. The rest of the unit was unaffected.

Les James, one of the four tenants in the apartment, said he was getting coffee when he returned to his building and saw smoke coming from the second story. He walked upstairs and felt the bedroom door, which was warm, and opened it to see more smoke.

“I banged on the door, saw some smoke, and ran downstairs to call 911,” he said. They showed up within two minutes.”

Another roommate, who declined to give his name, said he was nearby when a local business owner called to let him know there was a fire in his building.

“I ran around the corner because a friend of mine called me and said my apartment was on fire,” he said.

Jonathan Baxter, the department spokesperson, said the fire was under investigation and that a cause was not yet known. 

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Joe was born in Sweden, where half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and then spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time at YIMBY Action and as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023. You can reach him on Signal @jrivanob.99.

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